China Mobile is ready to start offering Apple's iPhone in the country but still, Apple may not be able to lead the Chinese market, where Lenovo, Samsung ZTE and Huawei are big competitors.

Speaking in a press event on Jan 15, 2014 in Beijing,
Apple CEO Tim Cook predicted growth of iPhone sales in third and fourth-tier cities. The press event follows Apple's December deal with China Mobile to offer the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s in the world's largest market.

Xi Guohua, chairman of China Mobile, said that Apple's strategy to provide customers with best products would not be changed, adding that Apple would not sell the most, but would create the best products.

Cook also indicated that the company would not just focus on quantity, but rather quality, in the highly anticipated partnership.

The first iPhones bearing a China Mobile contract will be sold on Friday.

Xi said more than 1 million iPhones have been booked during preorders, without specifing preorder figures for the iPhone 5S and 5C models.

The world's biggest mobile network is ready to offer Apple's iPhone, but while the US technology giant has declared China its biggest future market, it faces an uphill battle to unseat Samsung and homegrown competitors.

China Mobile and Apple have been arguing for 6 years over commercial terms of the iPhone sales in China.

China Mobile was recently awarded a government licence for 4G services. However, Apple seems to be far too late to take the lead in China, as Samsung rules the smartphone market with more than 18 percent share, according to consultancy Analysys International. Apple sits in the eighth place with a 3.5 percent share as of the third quarter last year, with six Chinese companies ahead of it, many offering cheaper phones using the Android operating system.